Today I want to tell you what you can, and should, do if you think you may be going to be charged with an offence.

Some people are arrested and kept in custody by the police until they have been taken to court. That should be the “next lawful day”, which means the next day that a court can sit. It follows that, for example if someone is arrested on Saturday, the next lawful day is not the next calendar day, i.e. Sunday, but the day after that. And if the Monday is a public holiday, then the next lawful day is Tuesday. Note too that it is the next lawful day. That means if someone is arrested after midnight, they may very well not appear in court later that morning but be kept in until the following day.

Others are arrested but released on an undertaking to appear at court on a given date usually only a few days later. I previously explained that it is only the people who are kept in custody for the court, or who are liberated on an undertaking for court, who are entitled to the free services of the duty solicitor.

The majority of people dealt with in court are cited to attend. They are not given a date to appear by the police and, until they receive the papers from the Fiscal, have no idea when they may be called to answer the charge. It may be weeks or even months after the incident. What I have to say applies both to this group and those released on an undertaking.

Much of what you should do is set out in detail in the earlier series of articles I wrote on being a witness. All the earlier articles can be found on my web site, details of which are at the end of the article. In those articles I explained about the importance of “notes made at the time” and they are just as important for an accused. In short, write down as soon as you can all that happened. Keep that hand written note. Do not attempt to “tidy it up” by later typing it. If you do, it will no longer be a note made at the time.

If you have any witnesses to support your version of what happened, get them also to write it down. However what you must not do is attempt to make some common record of events. It is important that you and your witnesses each write it out separately.

If you think it is going to help, have photographs taken. What we are trying to do is preserve the evidence. If you have injuries, they are going to fade and perhaps disappear long before you go to court. The damage to your car or the marks on the road are not going to be available later unless you photograph them now.

Basically think about what you need to explain, and show, to the court when you come to say what happened and how you are going to preserve that. For example, are you saying you had something to drink at home before the police came to ask you about the accident? You may have to prove how much you had to drink and hence should keep the remains of the bottle or at least mark the before and after levels.

In an article of this general nature, I cannot possibly cover all the large possible variations in evidence that should usefully be preserved to assist in your defence and thus turn to the second thing you should do. Contact your solicitor. If you don’t know one, ask your friends and workmates as personal recommendation is still the best way to find a good one. If that still hasn’t given a name, use Yellow Pages. Whether or not you are entitled to legal aid is another matter covered in an earlier article that can be found on my web site.

Several years ago the Law Society had an advertising campaign saying it is never too early to consult a solicitor. They were, and are, wise words. If you leave it until after you have received papers from the Fiscal, it is almost certainly too late to get advice on what steps you should take to preserve evidence in your case.

Finally I had an unenviable first last week. I was driving home over the Kessock Bridge when I came upon a small car driving slowly in the fast lane. There was nothing in the inside lane, nor any possible obstruction ahead, to explain why he remained ambling along in the outer lane. All was revealed when the driver leant out of the car holding a camera in both hands to take a series of photographs of the view!